Joseph's (Closed)

My Little Weekend EscapeI know it sounds unbelievable, but HKU has been one of my "havens" during weekends. The student canteen sells really cheap food (you can have a breakfast at $11.5 while the same is sold at some $20 at a downtown MX; some visitors say the food here is better), and it's quiet enough for me to dive in books there. Besides, there is no lack of free, fast wi-fi.I have been told that there is "higher-end" food at the Graduate Hall, but we have never attempted to find out where it is. Recently, we attended an open seminar there, and we finally got to know the location. The next day, we went to the restaurant there without haste for a lunch.Good First Impression ...Joseph's is a "restaurant" not a "canteen", and it's more cozy. Tranquility is taken for granted; the seats are very comfortable. We checked in before noon (soon after we finished our breakfast at the student canteen!), so we could have the best seats available: the table for 2 at the corner (adjacent to big windows) with small sofas. An even better place to spend a few relaxed hours on a Saturday!The waitress handed us menus, and we smiled. Most 4-course sets (including soup, dessert and tea) are priced at $60-90, which is quite affordable even to undergraduates. And they offer a nice variety of cuisines from Western to SE Asean (Thai), Korean and Japanese. (Of course, whether they do them equally well is another matter.) Today we picked rib eye and sea bass.Behind a Nice AmbienceHere came the soup. When I looked at the Russian Broth I frowned a bit. It was too thin. In order to give the soup substance, it must be cooked long enough - even with the help of a blender - but what was in front of us was just like that sold at the canteen. I don't think they share a "central" kitchen, but such suspicion is just natural. The cream of mushroom soup was better - it gave me the required creaminess, thickness (not from corn starch!) and rich taste.All said, the beginning had been quite a flop - not very bad, but down the hill there are good restaurants at similar prices.Oops, a Mistake ...When the waiter presented the steak, we noticed that something was wrong - we asked for "all vegetable" but there was still mashed potato. The waiter apologized and replaced that. Still, the dish was disappointing. The rib eye was somewhat too thin and overcooked. It lacked tenderness and was even a bit chewy. The sauce did not help much. I paid $98 (there is no service charge; the quality of service is another matter) for the set, but I couldn't see the value if Memo's is also offering the same main dish during lunch at the same price (see my forthcoming review).Then the sea bass. There were many things on the plate - too many. They attempted to make the dish look more "classy" by putting some asparagus on the top, but that didn't match with the cauliflower and broccoli on the side. Worse, the rice was not totally "brown" as claimed on the menu; it was at best "mixed rice" and it appeared to come from the canteen. The tomato concasse was thin and not rich enough. The fish itself was, to be fair, quite well cooked; the problem was, I didn't know where to put it because the rest of the plate was occupied by the "brown" rice, and the moist from underneath was making the fish less and less crispy.The chef has to think through how their food can be done "one class above" if they are serious about keeping the business.... and Yet Another OneThere was a choice of fruit platter and cake for the dessert. We opted cake but the waiter missed that, again. We had to ask again for a replacement, and when I tasted the chocolate brownie, I wish I had kept the fruit platter - it was sooooo dry! Soon I understood why. When I returned from the toilet, I saw decks of chocolate brownie on plates in a small room - all cut and ready to serve. You can try it out - cut a cake and then put it in the air conditioned living room for an hour. A flop became a blunder!Joseph's was quiet on this day. At first I thought it was because it's a non-teaching day. When we left I knew there were other (very obvious) reasons. The graduate students (who are presumably smarter) have gone elsewhere to have their appetite satisfied. For me, I'd say the canteens are the places for me when I come again. continue reading

朋友介紹, 話呢間餐廳幾好食. 於是襯個朋友生日, book 位試吓, 一行共4人.好在有book位, 原來中午呢間餐廳都好full.雖然行到一條氣, 入到餐廳感覺好好, 裝修同座位好舒服.點左牛扒,羊扒 同 凱撒三文魚salad.... 牛扒跟南爪薯蓉同d sauce好正, 凱撒三文魚salad 好新鮮好味, 但羊扒就好耐先黎, 味道唔錯可惜熟過籠, 又唔熱....唔知係咁放左好耐先拿出來...食物總括黎講好好味, 朋友冇介紹錯.好可惜d侍應就好差...... 冇一個有笑容, 講野係佢自己先聽到, 介紹餐湯同餐後甜品完全唔清唔楚..食食吓仲聽到好多次打爛野聲...真影響食野mood 最離譜係埋單時, 我想攞本埋單簿睇吓張單, 侍應可以同我對峙拉住本埋單簿唔放手...真要命....還有就係個女廁冇廁紙又唔清潔....其實 ...一間餐廳食物好食重要, 但service同廁所衛生都影響餐廳形象.... continue reading

今日好忙碌，又買書又上堂又lecture又溫書… 所以揸車返來泊左係graduate house，順便同honey上來lunch。今日Lunch time好似有人包場所以好嘈好似酒樓，我地先入房坐也覺勁嘈，服務生做到踢哂腳卻仍好好禮貌，我地的lunch:餐包x2: ok, nothing special忌簾湯: ok, nothing specialGreen salad: excellent! Very fresh and I love its salad sauce! Sweet n sour!炭燒肉眼牛扒伴南爪薯蓉：肉眼牛扒好大件份量不錯，煮得剛剛好合我的5成要求，好襯mushroom sauce，意外是它的南爪薯蓉！平時不食薯仔既我，勁鍾意呢個南爪薯蓉！嗰種又甜又”林”又cream既感覺… 唔停得口！！！廚師，點煮架？帶子鮮蝦炒天使麵：不差，帶子厚身又爽口，鮮蝦一般，天使麵身煮得幾靚，但被肉眼牛扒風頭蓋過…甜品choco-cakex2: 麻麻地咯…凍coffeer & lemon tea: ok so so.Honey閃左去lecture，我又懶鬼唔去library，見lunch過後靜番，於是係度直落tea兼玩ipad，my lovely tea:三文魚蟹籽意粉：幾乎冇蟹籽，意粉煮得一般，但好夾個忌簾汁，再襯三文魚絲，幾健康清新。凍柚子茶：好好味，好sweet！。。。熊仔返來喇! 佢口乾乾又想食下熱氣野，於是要左：炸魚burger併薯角: 個炸魚好厚肉又滑又脆，burger就一般啦，而薯角真係好正好鬼念mood! 仲有好味既Green salad!凍horlick: ok. 百忙中偷閒，與honey enjoyed 左一個飽滿的下午，哈哈！ continue reading

想返港大行一下，又未曾試過這間餐廳，不過並非其他食評那麼好，失望。暑假又是平日人不多，不過我們想轉去較靜的位置，部長說因為當天人多拒絶了。午餐選擇不多，主要是西式或日式。我們選了燒靖魚定食和墨西哥雞溥餅。燒靖魚大小還可以，但沒有蘿蔔葺的汁，我問侍應取些少汁送飯，那鰻魚汁很咸。糙米飯不好吃，只是夠大碗。那所謂的溥餅其實只是兩件卷，小得根本吃不飽人，附一小杯西瓜粒。餐飲點了咖啡和柚子蜜，咖啡難飲極了，怎會如此?早之到學生飯堂好過，不過當日月明樓的餐廳沒有開。 continue reading

1.12.08 (Mon)去開附近，之後返campus約人食飯，hku最high都係呢度架喇前一晚book 8:00pm，但其實唔駛book，因為夜晚都冇乜人黎，當晚全場只有兩檯人(book都係想同佢講有人會黎，費時佢早收)兩左兩個ｓｅｔ　ｄｉｎｎｅｒ（$130+ 包湯、ｄｒｉｎｋ、ｃａｒｒｏｔ　ｃａｋｅ）同埋兩個意粉- set: 燒春雞 - 雞幾硬，ｗｉｎｅ　ｓａｕｃｅ，味道都可以，但薯條食得出係番炸！（唔係番炸一定仲好食）- set: 魚 - 幾好食，因為個ｓａｕｃｅ好食，特別既ｓａｌａｄ　ｓａｕｃｅ- 三文魚白汁天使麵 - 最好食，乾乾地但有sauce!- 海鮮龍蝦意粉 - sauce比較咸，普普通通，龍蝦只不過係蝦- carrot cake - 略甜，而且carrot cake唔係我favourite，可以唔食，所以都係散叫好阿waiter service依然好好total $4xx，四人 continue reading